A stranger to duel academy
by L0st prophet
Summary: Damian decides to join a tournament and doesn't know were life will lead after that.


The Tokai Regional Tournament was a well-known event in the modern city of Nagoya. People from all over the Chubu region of Japan flocked to the city in order to take part in the festivities.

As for the tournament itself, it concerned Duel Monsters, a popular trading card game that soon turned into a way of life. Soon, a pro league emerged and successful "duelists" as they called them, could easily make a fortune.

The tournament itself consisted of three sets of tournament brackets: one each for the Tokai duelists, the Hokuriku duelists, and the Koshin'etsu duelists. There, a hundred different duelists from each region would duel until a champion emerged. The entire event could take over a week.

I, Damian Stryker, was also a part of this event. I was part of a card club situated in Nagoya that consisted of my friends and I. When the letter was sent to us notifying us of the oncoming event, we all dueled one other for the privilege of taking part in it. Due to my experience and luck, I ended up being the one to enter.

I had stressed quite a bit beforehand. I had stayed up all night several days attempting to balance and tweak my deck enough so that it stood a chance of winning. In fact, my friends often sent me to bed forcibly, saying that they would beat me over the head with a crowbar if I didn't turn the light out. Gotta love them.

On the day of, I had frantically dressed and packed my deck and duel disk and rushed out the door to my car, excited to be a part of this. With the encouragements of my friends still ringing in my ears, I finally entered the tournament.

The tournament itself was housed in a massive stadium, with plenty of room between the duelists for the monsters to battle. That was the good thing about the duel disks: they projected realistic holograms on the field before them. Not only did they look real, the monsters often exhibited a sort of artificial intelligence, which only served to intensify the duel more.

The crowd numbered in the thousands, and all of them were gathered to watch the duels unfold. This amount of space often had three duels occurring at once, since there were three regions that needed champions. I felt nervous with all of those eyes on me, but I was determined to make a name for myself

At the beginning ceremony, all of the duelists from the Tokai region (including me) were given virtual schedules, so that we knew when exactly we were supposed to duel. Then we were assigned rooms in a nearby five star hotel so that we could wait until it was our turn.

I was roomed with a decent man named Rick Fair, who had short dark hair and a tendency to be overconfident. He and I joked around a bit as we waited, saying that we would beat one another, and other things like that. However, I knew that the chances of us actually dueling were slim.

When my turn came to duel, I bid farewell to Rick and made haste to the arena. My opponent was strong, but I eventually managed to beat him. After all, my Red-Eyes deck is the best I've ever made.

That is how my week passed for the most part. Since there were so many other duels, I can't possibly account for them all. However, I can tell you that with determination and skill, I began to move up in the ranks.

One week later, it all came down to one single match. I had made it farther than I had ever hoped to, and I now stood as one of the two Tokai Region finalists. The other was Rick Fair.

We were evenly matched, since we both had a total of 500 life points left out of 4000. Rick had a powerful beast deck, and had shown remarkable skill with his monsters. However, I think I had him, since I had managed to summon two Red-Eyes Black Dragons in the space of one turn using the effects of Red-Eyes Black Chick and the spell card Ancient Rules.

"Impressive, Damian," Rick acknowledged, a cocky grin pasted on his face as his turn arrived. Since it had been three turns, the Swords of Revealing Light surrounding my monsters disappeared, freeing my attacks.

I glared at my roommate intensely with my bright green eyes, barely acknowledging his praise. This duel had gone on for a long time, and the crowd around us was screaming in anticipation for the next move.

"However, you have yet to meet the king of all beasts!" Rick exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that.

"I'll tribute my Des Kangaroo and Chain Dog to summon Behemoth, the King of All Animals!" Rick shouted, slamming the card on his duel disk. The strange green kangaroo and dog disappeared from the field and a much bigger monster replaced it.

I stared in awe and dismay as a giant purple beast with a mane of red hair appeared in a flash of light. It stood on all fours, each claw adorned with claws the size of steak knives.

The Behemoth caught sight of my two Red-Eyes Black Dragons, and then let out a loud roar. It reared up on its hind legs for a second and then, as Rick ordered, it charged at my dragons.

I watched in dismay as the Red-Eyes nearest to me shot forth a bolt of red energy from its mouth. The Behemoth was hit head on by the blast, but it emerged unscathed and slammed into my dragon, destroying it. My life points took a serious hit and fell to 200.

"It's been a good duel, but I think I have this in the bag," Rick declared, smiling in triumph. His overconfidence angered me and I growled.

"It's not over yet! My turn!" I snarled, drawing a card from the deck slot of my duel disk. As I looked at it, my spirits soared. It was exactly what I was hoping for: the Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.

The remaining Red-Eyes Black Dragon turned its head to look me in the eyes. Although I knew it was only a hologram, I looked it in the eyes and we both nodded.

"I'll remove from play my remaining Red-Eyes in order to summon…the Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" I yelled triumphantly as one of my strongest monsters emerged. Rick stared in awe as my Red-Eyes Black Dragon roared. Its dark scales became encased in a black metal sheen as it grew to twice its usual size. Its eyes turned a brighter red and its body began to exude a dark aura.

The Behemoth, whose attack was only 2700 in comparison to my 2800, refused to back down and roared back at my monster. The crowd was now silent as the turning point of the duel approached.

"But I am not finished! I'll activate the trap card Reinforcements, which increases the attack of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon by five hundred!" I continued, reveling in the dismayed look on Rick's face. My dragon let out a puff of black smoke as its attack rose to 3300.

"Now, attack, my faithful Red-Eyes!" I ordered. The giant dragon let out a final roar and unleashed a mighty burst of blood-red energy from its maw.

"Not so fast!" Rick interjected desperately. "I'll use the trap card Negate Attack! Your battle phase is over!"

"That is what you think!" I returned, since I had prepared for this very occasion. "I'll counter your trap with Solemn Judgment!"

Rick turned pale as my life points dropped to 100 and his Negate Attack was in turn negated. He could do nothing but watch as his Behemoth was engulfed in blood fire.

The crowd erupted into cheers as Rick's life points hit zero. A loud buzzer went off, and I realized that I had just become the Tokai Region's annual champion.

"We seem to have ourselves a winner over here in the Tokai District!" the announcer called, and a feeling of jubilation welled up inside my chest, and it was all I could do not to cheer. "Tokai Region has a new champion! Ladies and Gentlemen of the Chubu Region, I give you…Damian Stryker!"

Rick, although downcast, was a good loser. He walked over to me and held out his hand.

"Well played, Damian. You deserve to be champion," he said. I shook his hand, gratefully that he had taken his loss gratefully.

Then, the tournament officials separated me from him and brought me to a podium. There, they handed me a large golden trophy depicting a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in flight. I held it up proudly.

A loud, familiar scream erupted from the stadium as the officials let the fans into the stadium to greet me, the new Tokai Champion. The scream I heard was two of my best friends, Naomi and Jakob.

They were the ones to reach me first. They embraced me all at once, screaming incoherently with praise and congratulations. I hugged them back, glad to have such good friends.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stryker, but there is a limo waiting at the front of the stadium to take you back home," a tournament official informed me.

"Wait you get a limo? No fair!" Jakob cried, causing Naomi and I to laugh.

"Thank you sir. Can you take me to it?" I asked the official who nodded in response.

"Hey guys, I'll see you back at the clubhouse, okay?" I called back to Jakob and Naomi as the official led me out of the stadium.

"Do I get the limo all to myself?" I asked the stern official as we walked through an empty hallway that assumedly led to the outside.

"No sir. The champions from the Hokuriku and Koshin'etsu regions will be there as well," the official replied. I gulped, somewhat nervous. While this tournament did not make us famous or whatever, the concept of meeting the other champions instilled a feeling of inferiority.

As we exited the stadium, I found myself walking on a red carpet lined by rope fence that was surrounded by screaming fans. At the end of the carpet was a large black limo, with the doors already open.

I looked to my left and saw two more officials leading two imposing looking figures out of the stadium. I assumed that those must be the champions from the other regions.

I chose this moment to observe them. The one nearest to me was a tough looking female with long red hair and green eyes like mine. She was dressed in a pair of black tights trimmed with red as well as a tight fitting black shirt that seemed to be made of the same material. She looked like she could kick my ass if she tried.

The other was a male dressed in casual clothing, which was usually unheard of for tournaments like this. He wore a pair of blue jeans with a hole on the knee and a simple white t-shirt. He had dark brown hair that was fairly short and a serious gaze.

I squinted as the fans and the press around us started taking pictures. It took all of my willpower not to sprint to the limo.

When we reached the limo, the three of us entered the open door to see a homely interior lit by two florescent light bulbs and decorated with several leather seats. We each chose separate chairs and went to them. I sat down with a sigh, glad I was out of there.

The doors shut and the limo began to move along the streets. The official sitting next to the driver pivoted in his seat to look at us.

"We need your addresses, sirs, so that we may transport you safely to them," the official asked.

I spoke first, giving him the address of the clubhouse where my friends and I played Duel Monsters. Hopefully, by the time I got there, Naomi and Jakob would not be far behind.

Then the other two gave their addresses, which were both deep in the wealthy part of the city. That just made me feel even more awkward, since I had only just got out of college with a major in business. I had some money, but nothing that rich.

Soon, silence followed. Or at least until the guy in the white shirt started to talk.

"So, you are Damian, right?" he said to me. I jumped a little, startled that he was actually talking to me.

"Yeah, that's me," I said curtly, trying to keep things polite. Rich people can be unpredictable.

"I saw that last part of your duel with Rick Fair. That was a nice turnaround," the teen said to me. "By the way, my name is Roland from the Hokuriku region."

"Thanks Roland. Nice to meet you too," I replied, shaking his hand. The female resident in the limo watched us in silence, not saying a word.

"What is your name, oh silent one?" Roland joked to the girl. She shot him a frosty glare.

"I am Amaryllis. Now please don't try to talk to me," the redhead demanded. At this, Roland raised his eyebrows and mouthed the word, "okay."

"So…your deck is based on Red-Eyes, I saw," Roland said to me, desperate to change the subject.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS WE ARE THE CHAMPIO

I bid goodbye to Roland and stepped out of the Limo. We had already dropped off Amaryllis, so he was the only one left. He was easy enough to talk to, so I found myself liking him. Hopefully we would meet again someday.

I walked into the clubhouse to see several members of the club watching the TV. To my surprise, I saw live footage of myself on the TV being led down the red carpet.

"Hey everybody, he's here!" someone screamed. They all turned away from the TV and started greeting me enthusiastically.

"Who would have known?"

"You OWNED them, Damian!"

"You really rocked out there!"

"You made us proud, Damian!"

I was taken aback by all the praise, so I exchanged some pleasantries and then excused myself to my room on the upper floor.

Sighing, I plopped down onto my computer seat and flipped on the monitor. My desktop, depicting a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, appeared in front of me. I was intending to go to the internet and look up the latest news, but instead my eye was caught by a flashing message at the bottom of the screen telling me that I had new email. This was weird, since I had few contacts that cared to email me.

I pulled it up and checked the address of the sender. It was from a, "."

Curious, I opened up the email and began to read.

"_Dear Mr. Stryker,_

_ It has come to my attention through local news channels that you have risen to the top of the Tokai Regional Tournament and won a prestigious title. Your initial unschooled dueling skills were impressive, but I believe that you could rise to even greater heights with the proper instruction. Thus, it is my pleasure to formally invite you to attend Duel Academy, a prestigious school established by Seto Kaiba himself in order to bestow upon young individuals the skills needed to survive in pro dueling. Should you accept, forward a fee of 500$ to the enclosed account number and meet one of our officials at Nagoya harbor, dock number 48. The money will be used to cover the cost of your school uniform and initial rooming, as well as the cost of transportation. We look forward to hearing your reply._

_ Sincerely, _

_ Vellian Crowler."_

I could not move for a few seconds, not even daring to believe that I was being invited to such a well-known school. Duel Academy, which was situated on an island off the coast. It was known for being notoriously hard to get into, since each potential student had to pass an entry exam. Very rarely did anyone get invited to this school, like I just did.

Just then, as I was thinking, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I called. The door slammed open to reveal Jakob and Naomi, who looked very happy to see me.

"Hey, Damian! We just wanted to greet the Tokai Regional Champion!" Jakob declared with a big smile on his face.

"Hey guys. I have some good news and some bad news," I told them honestly, which sobered them up a bit.

"What's the good news?" Naomi asked tentatively. I grinned when she asked.

"I won the freaking tournament!" I yelled, and then we all laughed and embraced happily.

"GROUP HUG!" Jakob hollered. When we separated again, they looked at me seriously.

"So then what is the bad news?" Jakob asked. I shuffled my feet a little, not really knowing how to tell them. After all, we had known one another since we met in high school, and I wasn't really looking forward to leaving them.

"I might be leaving Nagoya," I said bluntly, not bothering to be subtle. Jakob and Naomi looked dumbstruck.

"What? Why?" Naomi demanded.

"I just got an email from Duel Academy. They've invited me to attend," I confessed, honestly not knowing how they would react.

There was a silence as they looked at me in wonder. Jakob seemed to be struggling with himself, trying to find the words to express himself.

"I freaking hate you," Jakob joked weakly. "Do you know how many times I've applied to that school?"

"You lucky rat!" Naomi exclaimed, looking very jealous. "You ARE going of course?"

"Well, I didn't know how you would react," I explained. Jakob looked at me in mock fury.

"OF COURSE YOU ARE GOING TO DUEL ACADEMY! NOW GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR! PACK! PACK!" He yelled with a comical look on his face. I laughed at his antics.

With that, my best friends helped me pack several sets of clothing while I wired the appropriate amount of funding to the account that Mr. Crowler had specified. As I hit the send button, I knew that the clubhouse part of my life was over, and that another chapter was beginning.

I COULDN'T THINK OF A PROPER SCENE SEPARATOR SO HERE YOU GO!

I parked the car at the docks and stepped out with all of my luggage. I was dressed in black jeans and a black longs-sleeved shirt, since it was very cold outside. Jakob and Naomi had gone with me in order to help me carry it all.

"Jakob, you grab that suitcase there!"

"Damian, help me lift this, please!"

"Dammit, Jakob that has my formal attire in it!"

After enough time and hard work had passed, I was finally situated at dock 48. However, there was no one there waiting for me.

"Um…where are they?" Naomi asked, looking out over the ocean. I looked too, and I could make out a small dot approaching in the distance.

"I think I see them!" Jakob observed, seeing the same sight I did. We all watched as a sleek black yacht emerged over the horizon and zoomed towards them at a high speed.

The yacht was very well made, and I could see the details as it slowed down and approached the dock.

"I wonder who's inside," Naomi whispered as the yacht docked. A door in the back of the yacht slid open and out came an official looking man dressed in a blue trench coat and wearing sunglasses.

"Excuse me, but could you assist me in mooring this boat?" the man called, speaking in a deep cultured voice.

"Of course!" I said instantly, walking over to the yacht. I leaped aboard and grabbed one of the mooring ropes and tossed it to Jakob, who was still on the dock. My friend caught it and swiftly tied it to the dock.

Looking over to my right, I saw Naomi help the official tie the other rope to the dock as well. When we were all finished, we hopped back aboard the dock and faced one another.

"My thanks for your help. Which one of you is Damian Stryker?" the man asked, standing in a military "at ease" stance.

"That is me," I piped up. When the man looked at me, I found his gaze unnerving, since I couldn't see his eyes past his dark glasses.

"My name is Lioside, and I will be your pilot until you reach Duel Academy. Are you ready to depart?" the man declared, not moving an inch. I mentally whistled as I observed his rigid discipline.

"Can I say goodbye to my friends?" I asked, not knowing how patient Lioside was.

"By all means. I will wait here," Lioside answered graciously. I nodded in thanks and turned back to Jakob and Naomi.

"Good luck out there, buddy," Jakob told me sincerely, extending his hand. I took it, and he pulled me into a brotherly embrace. "Don't party too hard your first night there."

I chuckled at him and then turned to Naomi. She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and pride on her face. After a second of silence, she flung her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, not needing to say anything.

"Keep in touch, okay?" Naomi asked when she released me, gazing seriously into my eyes.

"I will, I promise," I replied sincerely. With that, I turned back to Lioside. "I'm ready."

HERE'S ANOTHER PATHETIC SCENE SEPARATOR I MUST PUT SOMETHING

Nagoya soon disappeared from the horizon as Lioside's black yacht sped across the ocean with great speed. It really was a magnificent piece of technology. It even had a comfortable little cabin in the back that included a kitchen, a living area, and two bedrooms.

Lioside himself seemed to be a very organized man, since his boat was sparkling clean and neatly arranged. However, he wasn't very talkative. I had asked him a few questions about the academy itself, but he only said that Vellian would tell me more. I wondered who that was again, but then I remembered that it was that Mr. Crowler person that had sent me the invitation.

It wasn't long before Duel Academy Island appeared in the distance. I gasped in amazement as I beheld it. It was a beautiful sight: forests blanketed the entire island, and there was a giant mountain in the center of the landscape. Duel Academy itself was merely a multicolored dot amongst the tropical paradise.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like it!" I cried, standing on the prow of the yacht as we zoomed ever closer to the dock.

"I'm glad you enjoy it. You will be living here until you graduate," Lioside replied from the driver's seat.

I was never more excited in my life as the dock came into sight. It was a simple structure, with only one small dock and a large lighthouse whose purpose was to light the way for boats traveling at night. At the beginning of the pier was a large building with two helipads on top, with helicopters already landed on them. I could guess the building's purpose: it was probably used to store the yachts.

I noticed that standing upon the pier was a strange woman with short blonde hair that was tied into a sizeable ponytail that hung down the back. She was dressed in a blue blazer with two weird tassels attached to either shoulder. There were several buckles on the chest area, as if something was supposed to be attached there at some point.

Lioside skillfully maneuvered his yacht until we were alongside the dock.

"Will you help me tie the yacht to the dock?" Lioside again asked. I nodded in confirmation and I stepped onto the dock.

The strange woman watched as Lioside tossed one of the ropes to me. I snatched in out of the air and tied it to one of the posts installed just for this purpose. Lioside nodded, satisfied, and then tossed the other rope to me. I repeated the process, and then the man joined me up on the dock.

"You may leave your luggage on the boat. It will be delivered to your room shortly," Lioside informed me. I nodded in confirmation.

Now that I got a good look at the woman, I was shocked to discover that it was not a woman at all. After all, his face was too masculine to be a woman, and there was a noticeable lack of breasts. I almost laughed, since this man looked ridiculous with his chosen fashion style.

"Welcome back, Lioside! You may report back to the administrative level now," the man said in a high-pitched voice that reminded me a lot of a clown. "And you must be Damian?"

"Yes sir. Are you Mr. Crowler?" I asked respectfully, since I wanted to get off to a good start. However, I seem to have said the wrong thing as his face turned red in anger.

"I'm a DOCTOR! Dr. Crowler!" the man shrieked. My faced turned red with embarrassment as I realized my mistake.

"Accept my apologies, Dr. Crowler. Your title was not present on your email," I clarified, already cursing myself for getting off to a bad start.

"Well, I guess I can overlook it this time," Dr. Crowler gritted out, obviously trying his hardest to be nice. Soon, he snapped out of it and cleared his throat, looking official again.

"So, Damian, we of Duel Academy are collectively proud to receive you here and hope you will enjoy your stay," Dr. Crowler began, and then reached behind him and lifted a garment bag from the ground.

"Sir, what is that?" I asked tentatively, since I was sure that Dr. Crowler was a volatile man if all it took was a mistake in title to set him off.

"This, Damian, is your uniform!" Dr. Crowler proclaimed proudly, and then took a brilliant red jacket out of the garment bag. "All new entrants to Duel Academy automatically start out in the Slifer Red Dorm, so this will be your uniform for the duration of your stay in that dorm."

He handed the jacket to me and waited patiently for me to try it on. I slipped the jacket on over my black shirt and was relieved to see that it fit perfectly. Also, it was exceedingly warm, and it looked like I was set for the winter.

"Are there other dorms?" I inquired, since I wanted to know as much as I could about the school that I was going to attend.

"Yes there are, but I'm sure your classmates can tell you more about that," Dr. Crowler responded, and his voice sounded awfully sharp voice, as if he was hiding something. However, I said nothing. "Now, your first order of business is to head to your dorm and rest. In the morning, Chancellor Sheppard will send for you. Your room number is 212."

I thanked Dr. Crowler for the information, and we bid each other farewell. He stayed behind to lock up the boat, I assumed, and I walked towards the bridge that led to the mainland.

It was only when I was halfway across the bridge that I realized that Dr. Crowler never told me the way to the Slifer Red Dorm. I sighed and kept walking, figuring that I was going to find it eventually.

I walked off the bridge and continued into the forest. The first thing I came across was a fork in the road. I sighed and let my head fall into my hands. Wonderful. The first day here and I was already lost.

I noticed many other students milling around the area, going to their assorted destinations. All of them wore jackets like mine, only some were yellow or blue. That made sense, now that I realized the relationships between the colors. Everyone in the dueling universe knew about the God Cards: Slifer the Sky Dragon, previously owned by Yugi Moto, the King of Games; The Winged Dragon of Ra, previously owned by the evil tomb guardian Marik Ishtar; and Obelisk the Tormentor, previously owned by Seto Kaiba, the establisher of this academy. Since Slifer was red, that must mean that there are Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue Dorms. Of course, I didn't know how they differed from one another.

I realized that I would have to ask for directions, so I walked forward quickly and stopped another student wearing a yellow jacket.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I can find the Slifer Red Dorm?" I asked politely, fervently hoping that this guy wasn't as volatile as Dr. Crowler.

The teen stopped and looked at me. He had light brown hair that was spiked in the back and dark eyes that possessed an uncanny intelligence.

"Of course. It is to your left, you cannot miss it," the teen said to me in a funny British accent. "Are you new?"

"Yes, I arrived only recently and I don't know my way around yet. Sorry for imposing on you," I apologized. The teen seemed to be impressed by my politeness, and he smiled.

"Not at all. My name is Bastion Misawa. I'm always glad to meet a new student," the teen replied, extending his hand. I shook it, smiling back at the likeable teenager.

"I'm Damian Stryker. It's nice to meet you too," I responded, shaking his hand. Bastion seemed surprised when I uttered my name.

"Ah, I know you! I saw you on TV recently, dueling Rick Fair," Bastion iterated, his eyes lighting up. "You possess remarkable dueling skills."

"Thank you, Bastion. I tried my hardest," I replied modestly, shuffling my feet in embarrassment.

"No kidding. Anyway, you'd best be on your way," Bastion commented. "By the way, if you ever feel like chatting, just head over to the right and ask for me."

"Thanks. I might take you up on that," I replied graciously, and then we parted ways.

As I turned to the left, I noticed how empty this path was in comparison to the others. Perhaps the others in the Slifer Red Dorm didn't get out much.

Soon, the Slifer Red Dorm came into view. It wasn't much, merely a quaint, two storied building that overlooked the ocean. I noticed that to its left was another, smaller building that had the restroom logo on it. That made sense. There didn't seem to be enough room in the small building to have a bathroom in every dorm.

As I approached, I noticed a man sitting in a chair out in the front of the dorm. He seemed to be enjoying the wintry air.

When I drew near to him, he rose from his seat to greet me. Draped in his skinny arms was a small ginger cat. The man himself was fairly tall, and had spiked black hair that extended to his middle back. However, the strangest part about him were his eyes. They were sewn shut.

"Ah, you must be the new student I was told about," the man greeted me in a strange German accent. Unnerved, I could only nod.

"I see, you must be wondering about my eyes," the man observed, laughing slightly. "I have a permanent eye infection that could cause them to be damaged should they be exposed to the light. Therefore I had them shut permanently."

"I…I see," I stammered, although this was unsettling. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Oh, pardon my manners. I am Dr. Lyman Banner, the head of Slifer Red. Pleased to meet you," the man said nicely. We shook hands briefly.

"You are the one who is rooming with Jonathan?" Dr. Banner asked.

"Is he in room 212 as well?" I asked, not sure how I felt about having a roommate.

"Indeed he is. You had better go meet him then," Dr. Banner told me. I thanked him and hurried away from him.

I noticed that the room numbers on the first floor were all in the 210s so I walked up stairs. I opened the door to the one I thought was my room and found out immediately that it was not.

Inside were two teens about my age, also wearing red jackets like mine. One had had a lot of untidy brown hair sprawled across his scalp, and the other had an absurd hair color. I can't describe it any other way, so I'll just call it…sea foam. Seriously, who the hell dyes their hair like that?

"Um…is this Jonathan's room?" I asked awkwardly, though I knew it was not.

"Nope! That is two rooms down! Are you new here?" the brown haired one replied. I nodded, embarrassed.

"Sweet! I'm Jaden Yuki!" the teen declared, standing up and laying a friendly arm around my shoulders. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with that, but I let it stay. "And this little guy over here is my buddy Syrus Truesdale!"

The seafoam haired guy I could only describe as looking somewhat nerdy, averted his eyes before mumbling a greeting.

"It's good to meet you, but I should be getting to my room now," I responding, trying to get out of there, since I felt very awkward.

"That's cool, man! I guess I'll see you at dinner then!" Jaden replied, lifting his arm from me. I nodded and left the room behind me. That was weird. Why do I keep screwing up today?

This time, when I opened the dorm room, I made sure to double check the number. Now, there was a fairly neat room with only one person in it. He was reclining back in a comfortable looking chair with his arms folded behind his head. He had short brown hair, but I couldn't see his eyes since they were closed. He was nodding his head back and forth in time to the music that was assumedly coming from the earphones he was wearing.

"Are you Jonathan?" I asked, wondering how many people I was going to disturb today. The teen opened one brilliant brown eye and looked at me. He then clicked the pause button on the Zune that was in his hand and removed the earphones from his ears.

"Yep, that's my name! It's about time they gave me a roommate!" Jonathan declared, placing his Zune aside and standing up. We shook hands.

When we separated, Jonathan glanced at his watch and whistled.

"Aaaand it is time for dinner! Let's go!" he exclaimed. I was confused, since I had just got here. He saw me and laughed. "Dinner's at 7:00! We got to hurry or we won't get seconds!"

He put on a red hat with the Duel Academy logo on it, and then I rushed out the door after him, since dinner obviously was good if it made him go in such a hurry.

So, as I ran, I wondered just what I had gotten myself into here at Duel Academy. I obviously had a big day tomorrow, so I decided to stop worrying and enjoy myself while I could. After all, I had given a lot to come here. However, I WAS happy to be here, and I intended to make my stay at this school to be the best in my life.


End file.
